July 21, 2025 — Sometimes, a little sunlight does some good. As I reported last month, even while Pam Bondi’s Justice Department has been treating Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo as a victory for conservative and MAGA critics of the administrative state, career lawyers at the DOJ were continuing to defend the very Commerce Department fishing-monitor regulation at issue in Loper Bright and its companion case, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled in favor of the government in Relentless, concluding that the Commerce Department could saddle fishing boats with the cost of monitors even without any authorization in the statutory text for charging them such a fee: “The default norm, manifest without express statement in literally hundreds of regulations, is that the government does not reimburse regulated entities for the cost of complying with properly enacted regulations, at least short of a taking.” Never mind that this isn’t a matter of the boats bearing the costs of their own compliance with rules, but of paying a regulatory agent for the government. The judge also found that, because the Magnuson-Stevens Act gives the agency “necessary and appropriate” powers, this “in no uncertain terms, delegates . . . a large degree of discretionary authority.” Actually, a term could hardly be more uncertain, and the whole point of Loper Bright is that agency discretion is about policy — not the interpretation of the law.
Reopening the Pacific Monuments
July 21, 2025 — Reopening the waters around the Pacific Monuments will help the U.S. fleet, but they still need to fight a battle in the marketplace.
On April 17, U.S. tuna fishermen in the Pacific welcomed President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) 14276 directing Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to review marine national monuments and remove commercial fishing restrictions that conflict with national seafood priorities. Trump also issued a proclamation immediately opening the waters around the Pacific Remote Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, one of the four Pacific monuments.
“The president’s proclamation, issued the same day as his EO 14276, basically opens up the waters between 50 and 200 miles around the Pacific Remote Islands Monument – the islands of Wake, Johnston, and Jarvis – for commercial fishing,” says Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association (HLA).
The waters between 50 and 200 miles around the Remote Islands and three other monuments in the Pacific – Papahānaumokuākea, Marianas Trench, and Rose Atoll – had been closed since 2016 to protect tuna and generate spillover of tuna from the protected areas into surrounding waters.
Panel to debate overhaul of marine mammal law
July 21, 2025 — A House Natural Resources subcommittee on Tuesday will meet to discuss a slate of bills, including a controversial draft to reform the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The discussion draft, credited to Alaska Republican Rep. Nick Begich, would scale down the scope of the MMPA and raise the bar for the federal government to take action to protect marine mammals like whales, dolphins, seals and polar bears. Environmental advocates have warned that, as written, the bill would gut the MMPA and expose myriad species to extinction.
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), chair of the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee, earlier this year called the MMPA “well-intentioned” but nevertheless complained that “ambiguous, outdated and unclear language has proven unworkable.”
US tariff announcement fuels uncertainty, boosts diversification push in Indonesia’s seafood industry
July 21, 2025 — Indonesia’s seafood industry is grappling with uncertainty following a new reciprocal tariff announced by U.S. President Donald Trump – a move likely to accelerate the country’s ongoing efforts to diversify its export markets and reduce reliance on the U.S.
On 16 July, Trump announced that the U.S. will impose a 19-percent tariff on Indonesian goods starting 1 August, a reduction from the 32-percent rate initially floated on 2 April. The announcement – made via Trump’s social media platform Truth Social – was later confirmed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
Proudly American: How Two Louisiana Companies Anchor U.S. Leadership in the Gulf Menhaden Fishery
July 21, 2025 — Along Louisiana’s coast, fishing is more than a job, it’s a way of life. At the heart of this tradition are two U.S.-owned and operated companies, Westbank Fishing and Ocean Harvesters, which together power one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world and help keep jobs, innovation, and investment right here in America.
Local Companies with Deep Roots
Westbank Fishing, based in Empire, LA (Plaquemines Parish), has operated in southern Louisiana for decades. It delivers its catch to the Daybrook Fisheries plant and supports hundreds of local jobs while focusing on safety, efficiency, and environmental stewardship.
Founded in 2017, Ocean Harvesters operates out of Abbeville, LA (Vermilion Parish) and provides fishing services exclusively to Omega Protein. Ocean Harvesters has invested heavily in sustainability, safety, and professional training.
Both Westbank Fishing and Ocean Harvesters operate MARAD-compliant fleets, meaning their vessels are U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed in accordance with the U.S. Maritime Administration’s standards. This designation reflects a strong commitment to national maritime security and domestic workforce development. This compliance isn’t just a label—it ensures these vessels are available for national defense sealift if needed and keeps maritime jobs in the U.S.
Trump adds new level of scrutiny to wind and solar projects
July 18, 2025 — The Interior Department said Thursday that it would add additional layers of review for wind and solar energy projects, following President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending any “preferential treatment” for renewable energy.
The new requirement threatens to trip up the approval process as wind and solar projects race to begin construction by a deadline next July to qualify for tax credits, which have been gutted by Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill that Congress approved this month. The department’s policies apply to projects on federal lands and waters, but generally not to those on private property.
Also on Thursday, Trump issued a proclamation exempting several coal plants in Ohio, Colorado and Illinois from stricter Biden-era rules limiting mercury and other toxic emissions through 2029.
“The Federal Government plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the Nation’s power supply remains secure and reliable,” the proclamation said. “Forcing energy producers to comply with unattainable emissions controls jeopardizes this mission.”
Separate proclamations gave exemptions from toxic emissions rules to 25 chemical manufacturers including Shell Chemical and to certain iron ore processing facilities, including two operated by the U.S. Steel Corporation.
Court upholds rule requiring fishing boat owners to pay regulators
July 18, 2025 — A federal court has upheld the government’s ability to require commercial fishing boat owners to pay for monitors aboard their vessels, a year after the Supreme Court took up the case and broadly curbed federal agencies’ authority.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled Tuesday that a NOAA Fisheries rule was lawful under the primary U.S. fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
Senior Judge William Smith said the court must exercise its independent judgment on whether an agency acted within its authority.
Fulton Fish Market Cooperative rallies to urge Trump to halt Empire Wind project
July 18, 2025 — Bronx, New York City, USA-based Fulton Fish Market Cooperative held an emergency rally on 16 July to urge U.S. President Donald Trump to halt the Empire Wind offshore wind project that seafood industry stakeholders claim will put their livelihoods at risk.
Seafood industry stakeholders gathered at the event – many of whom were unionized employees of the market – said the project threatens their livelihoods and those in New York’s seafood industry. Fulton Fish Market Cooperative CEO Nicole Ackerina said the project will heavily damage the industry and push it out of the region.
Protecting Coral Habitat May Prove Vital As Ocean Becomes More Acidic
July 18, 2025 — Concerning news for coral reefs came out this week in University of Hawaiʻi research, while on the same day long-awaited protections for critical habitats offered some hope.
A paper published Monday in the Journal of Geophysical Research found the oceans around Hawai’i will become significantly more acidic throughout the 21st century, based on climate modeling.
That could do enormous harm to ocean organisms that form hard shells and skeletons, such as shellfish and coral, adding another layer of stress for already struggling species. And the scenarios UH researchers used for their models show to what extent carbon emission-driven climate change will make matters worse.
“Until about 2050, it doesn’t matter which scenario we’re on; we are on a path that has been built up over the last 100-plus years,” said Brian Powell, one of the four UH physicists who worked on the paper.
After 2050, however, he said the global carbon output will determine which scenario becomes reality.
“We don’t have to be on the business-as-usual track,” Powell said. “We can try to do better.”
On Monday, the National Marine Fisheries Service also announced protections for habitats around the world critical to endangered coral species, including in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. The announcement came over a decade after the islands’ initial endangered designation.
David Derrick, one of the lawyers with the Center for Biological Diversity who sued to provide those protections, said that the Endangered Species Act played a vital role in their work. According to him, the law “gives groups leverage to hold the (government’s) … feet to the fire.”
Senate passes Alabama-backed bill to block illegal red snapper and tuna imports into the U.S.
July 18, 2025 — A bill aimed at protecting local fishermen from illegally caught fish being sold in the U.S., passed the Senate with the support of both senators from Alabama.
The Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act, co-sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), instructs the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to create a standard method of identifying the country of origin for red snapper and some species of tuna that is imported into the United States.
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